Wall of Fame 2018 Inductees

Athlete with a Disability

STEPHANIE PAPILLO OF SYNCHRONIZED SWIMMING
STEPHANIE PAPILLO is a synchronized swimmer with the Aquasonics and she is the first athlete with a disability from BC to go to the national synchronized swimming championship where STEPHANIE won a gold medal. Her coach Erin Williams, says STEPHANIE is a leader on the team and a great role model. STEPHANIE is a very deserving recipient of the Athlete with a Disability of the Year.

Junior Female Athlete

OLIVIA WILLETT OF TRACK & FIELD
In her second year at SFU, OLIVIA WILLETT finished 4th in the entire Great Northeast Athletic Conference in a time of 21:49.1 and was the top female finisher for the Simon Fraser Women’s Cross-Country team. OLIVIA became the first and only Cross-Country sophomore either male or female at SFU to ever be named an All American in Cross Country. We wish OLIVIA all the best at tonight’s Harry Jerome and we are very proud of our Junior Female Athlete of the year.

Junior Male Athlete

ZACHARY CURTIS OF CURLING
ZACHARY CURTIS had the tough task of joining an established, nationally successful team and helping them continue on their golden path. The Coquitlam curler took the lead role with the Tyler Tardi rink of Langley and was instrumental in their win at the provincial junior curling title, the 2018 Canadian junior title, then in Scotland, where they dropped two round-robin games before going on to beat the hosts in the World junior championship final. Congratulations Zachary . . .

Female High School Athlete

DANAE ROBILLARD OF SOCCER AND JASMINE LEW OF TRACK & FIELD
DANAE ROBILLARD was captain of the AAA Fraser Valley and Provincial Championship Centennial Centaur Soccer team. DANAE is an outstanding leader and soccer player leading her team in assists and providing a number of inspirational performances all season. She also played volleyball and basketball and is a deserving recipient of the Female Highschool Athlete of the Year.

As a rookie standout at the University of Toronto JASMINE LEW won the women’s long jump at the Cornell Upstate Challenge. She jumped a personal best 6.11m, to finish 0.28m ahead of Aviana Goode of Syracuse University. The jump sees her sitting in first in the U SPORTS track and field rankings by over 20cm. A kinesiology major, JASMINE is the first Varsity Blue female to break the 6.00m mark since 1999, congratulations JASMINE.

Male High School Athlete

KYE MILLS OF WRESTLING AND GRAYSON PARKINS OF VOLLEYBALL AND BASKETBALL
KYE MILLS has been here before. At the start of 2018, the then-Pinetree Secondary senior wrestler parlayed a great grasp of the grappling arts to capture the B.C. high school boys 54-kilogram title in February, coming off a year where he topped the juvenile national championships, KYE launched his university career by winning the York Open for the University of Alberta. He also placed second at the Huskie Open. He’s had success on both sides of the border, and we anticipate greater things ahead for KYE.

If you were looking for a well-rounded high school athlete in Coquitlam, you probably would have heard about GRAYSON PARKINS. The Dr. Charles Best Blue Devil senior played key positions on both the boys volleyball and basketball teams. GRAYSON was a key offside hitter who helped pilot Best to its first-ever league volleyball title, and a berth to the Fraser Valleys. On the hardwood, he started for an underdog Blue Devils that rebounded its way to the League final, knocking off the favourites from Pinetree along the way. After losing a heartbreaker final 56-53 to Heritage Woods, Best pushed its season all the way to the Fraser Valleys. He was among 18 players selected to play in the zone’s all-star basketball game, and considered by his coaches as an excellent example of leadership and good sportsmanship. A true team player, congratulations PARKINS . . .

University/College – Male Athlete

MICHAEL NORTH OF SOCCER AND MATTEO POLISIS ALSO OF SOCCER
A senior defender with Simon Fraser University men’s soccer team, MICHAEL NORTH proved indispensable in helping the team in its march to the NCAA Div. 2 championships playdowns. He was voted the Great Northwest Athletic Conference’s Defensive Player of the Year, and joined two teammates, including Matteo Polisi, as a member on the NCAA Div. 2 Conference Commissioners Association All-American first team – that’s a mouthful – and was voted by the United Soccer Coaches to their second All-American squad.

With a knack for the net, Simon Fraser University striker MATTEO POLISI put up some Beckham-like numbers during the NCAA Div. 2 soccer season. A junior, MATTEO posted the fifth-most goals, with 18, in the NCAA, and stood sixth in scoring with 47 points. The Coquitlam product would be selected to the NCAA Div. 2 Conference Commissioners Association men’s soccer All-American first team, joining teammates Connor Glennon and Michael North, and be placed on the United Soccer Coaches’ first All-American team. He also picked up the West Region Player of the Year award. Quite the haul MATTEO.

University/College – Female Athlete

ADDY TOWNSEND OF TRACK & FIELD
ADDY TOWNSEND is one of the best middle-distance runners in BC and in Canada for her age group. She had her best season ever earning a GNAC conference championship title in the 1500m and 4x400m relay outdoors as well as her third title in the indoor GNAC conference championships in the 800m. ADDY won the silver medal in the 1500m at the outdoor championship in May and is by far the most decorated track athlete we have had in our NCAA program history. ADDY has NCAA honours in three sports: cross country, indoor and outdoor track. ADDY is ranked 2nd on the NCAA list for the indoor mile and the 1500m and is a very deserving College/University Female Athlete of the Year.

Senior Athlete of the Year – Male

MATHEW BARZAL of HOCKEY and CHRISTIAN DAL BIANCO of LACROSSE, CHRISTIAN
MATHEW BARZAL of the New York Islanders attended the NHL awards in Las Vegas last night and is understandably unavailable for tonight’s event. Afterall, it’s not often you get to pass the Calder Memorial Trophy to Vancouver’s Elias Pettersson. MATHEW’S 22 goals and 63 assists led all rookies in the NHL for 2017-18. He put himself in the league record books on Feb. 9, equaling a feat that Phantom Joe Malone achieved 100 years earlier, as the only players to ever post three five-point games in their rookie seasons. MATHEW has already taken on a leadership role with the Islanders, and is among the premier scorers in the league.

Whether it was the junior league or the pro circuit, Coquitlam’s CHRISTIAN DEL BIANCO has made a major impact. The young ball stopper was voted the Most Valuable Player for the Coquitlam Adanacs as they cruised to a franchise-second Minto Cup title. Along the way he scooped up a bounty of awards, including the Monty Leahy Award as B.C. junior A’s top goaltender, Henry Delmonico Trophy as the B.C. Junior League’s regular season MVP and the playoff MVP honours after posting a miserly .880 save percentage. No doubt his most cherished feat in 2018 was sharing the glow of a national junior title with his Adanac teammates. He has continued that success into 2019, but let’s save that for another day. Congratulations CHRISTIAN…

Senior Athlete of the Year – Female

JUSTINA DISTASIO OF WRESTLING AND LARKYN AUSTMAN OF FIGURE SKATING
Born in Burnaby of Norway House Cree heritage, JUSTINA DI STASIO honed her passion for wrestling at Simon Fraser University as a four-time All-American and three-time Women’s Collegiate Wrestling Association champion. A member of the Canadian national team since 2014, JUSTINA reached a new pinnacle in 2018 when she won the World Women’s 72-kilogram wrestling title in Hungary. It capped a year where JUSTINA was also a featured athlete in the BC Sports Hall of Fame’s Indigenous Sport Gallery as an inspiring role model. She continues to inspire as she focuses on her goal of an Olympic team berth. Congratulations JUSTINA…

Figure Skater LARKYN AUSTMAN brings incredible grace and athleticism each time she reached the podium. In 2018 she won a bronze medal at the Canadian National Figure Skating championships and was chosen for the Canada’s 2018 Olympic team, 8 years after she was a flower retriever at the 2010 Olympics in Vancouver. Her childhood dream of skating for Canada came true after enduring a lot of adversity. LARKYN placed 4th at the 2019 Canadian National Figure Skating championships and 10th at the ISU Four Continents Championships. Congratulations LARKYN . . .

Volunteer of the Year

ELAINE GOODMAN OF FIELD HOCKEY
ELAINE GOODMAN has been treasurer and bookkeeper for the Tri- City Eagles field-hockey club for the past ten years. ELAINE has been instrumental in ensuring the constitution and by-laws are up to date while monitoring registrations, handling player communications, settling up the field, liaising with the coach and taking care of the equipment for the entire club. ELAINE organizes the team’s high-performance camps. ELAINE truly care for all the players, spending time with each goalie of the club’s 24 team to make sure their needs are met. Congratulations Elaine, Volunteer of the Year.

Coach of the Year

LARRY MORO – SOCCER
As a lifetime coach, Centennial Secondary teacher LARRY MORO has seen his share of championship seasons. Few can match last year’s 2018 senior girls provincial title, where LARRY helped guide and inspire a group of extremely talented players to work as a team. Although he infers that his best attribute was to call out the players’ numbers and get out of the way, LARRY was instrumental in creating a fun atmosphere and game plan where the girls could succeed, ending with a 1-0 overtime win over Fleetwood Park in the provincial final. It was his second B.C. high school title – and the first of two in a row. LARRY exemplifies the best attributes of everyone’s favourite teacher and coach, and we’re glad to celebrate that in presenting him the 2018 Wall of Fame Coach of the Year award.

2018 Team of the Year

THE 2018 CENTENNIAL SENIOR GIRLS SOCCER TEAM
The 2018 CENTENNIAL SENIOR GIRLS SOCCER team was a very special group. After finishing 3rd at Provincials in 2017, the team was motivated for the 2018 season. The team finished the season with 22 wins, 1 tie and 1 loss – scoring 77 goals and only allowing 11against. Through hard work and strong leadership on and off the field, the Centaurs Senior Girls team achieve their goal of winning the AAA Provincial Championship.

Players

• Danae Robillard
• Emily Smith
• Jadyn Vance
• Jamie Vanstone
• COACH Larry Moro
• COACH Hayley Melvin